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Dear and the Headlights
Dear and the Headlights is an indie rock band from Phoenix, Arizona. They released two widely known demos, recorded by future bassist Chuckie Duff, before their debut album was released. These demos included five songs re-recorded for the album. The most notable change to the songs upon re-recording was the drop from standard guitar tuning to E-flat standard tuning. Two songs heard on their purevolume.com page, recorded acoustic on a local radio show, also later appeared on Small Steps, Heavy Hooves. Small Steps, Heavy Hooves, the band's debut album, was released on February 6, 2007 on Equal Vision Records. Hiatus and success Joel Marquard(first guitar player and keyboardist) and Ian Metzger(lead vocals and acoustic) started playing together in roughly 2002. Marquard convinced Metzger that they needed to start a band, but Ian was reluctant due to a somewhat negative experience with the Christian band called Justifide he co-founded in 1999. He finally gave in and Marquard quickly found PJ Waxman, who initially, started out playing drums for the band until they realized what a talented guitar player he was. But they were still left without a drummer and bass player. They tried out several people but nothing worked. Joel received a phone call from an old friend and former band mate named Chuckie Duff who played bass and had recently bought some recording equipment that he wanted to try out. So that next day he came over and recorded three songs (sweet talk, daysleeper, run in the front.) The songs were successful but Ian was burnt out on trying to find people for the band; determined to move to California. Duff kept listening to the demo and fell more and more in love. He was determined to not let them give up. He called Marquard and offered to play bass and promised him they'd find a drummer. Ian decided to give it a shot. Duff was right and marquard found drummer Mark Kulvinskas through an ad on criagslist. So Joel, PJ, Duff and Mark practiced the songs with Ian still in California, and got them down. Chuckie booked a show at borders book store and flew Ian down. He met the drummer, they practiced with Ian and played that night. Several more shows were played like this and Ian decided to move back. The decision was made to make an album famed Arizona record producer, songwriter of The Go Reflex and former keyboardist of The Ataris, Bob Hoag. Near the album's completion, the band started talking to, and eventually signing a contract with the popular indie label, Equal Vision Records. Small Steps, Heavy Hooves was critically acclaimed, and the band grew to a much higher status through endless touring with major label bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Paramore, The Plain White T's, and Motion City Soundtrack. Marquard left the band in September 2007 due to the heavy touring schedule and Robert Cissell was an obvious choice to replace him. They completed several more laps around the country and recorded Drunk Like Bible Times in early 2008. Members ;Current Members * Ian Metzger - vocals, Guitar * Robert Cissell - Guitar, Keys * PJ Waxman - Guitar * Chuckie Duff - Bass * Mark Kulvinskas - drums ;Former Members Joel Marquard - Guitar, Keys Discography * Small Steps, Heavy Hooves (2007) * Drunk Like Bible Times (2008) Touring In early 2007, around the time Small Steps, Heavy Hooves was released, Dear and the Headlights toured on an opening slot with The Plain White T's, Boys Night Out and Lovedrug. The band also toured with As Tall As Lions and headliners Mae in the summer of 2007. Following this they toured with Dredg and As Cities Burn, and following this with Fear Before the March of Flames and Circa Survive. The band also played the 11:15 slot at the Chicago, IL music festival, Lollapalooza, on August 4, 2007. In earlier 2008, they toured the U.S. with Straylight Run and had a headlining tour along with Cassino and The Color Fred. In spring 2008, they opened for Jimmy Eat World and Paramore on their co-headlining tour.Dear and the Paramore Eat World They toured in support of Motion City SoundtrackMotion City Soundtrack Plot Fall Tour and separately with Steel Train in fall of 2008.Steel Train Headlining Tour Announced They performed at Coachella 2009 on April 17, 2009.Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure Top Coachella Lineup They are currently performing on the 2009 Warped Tour on the Smartpunk.com Stage. References External links * Official Website * Official MySpace page * Entry at Allmusic * Dear And The Headlights feature at StereoSubversion.com * Interview with Dear and The Headlights Category: Bands LTJ have played with Category: Links to Wikipedia